April Marks First Monthly Budget Surplus of Obama’s Presidency

The U.S. government in April saw its first monthly budget surplus since September 2008, with large revenues offsetting below-normal federal spending.

Bloomberg

A statue of Albert Gallatin, a long-serving U.S. secretary of the Treasury, stands in front of the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C.,in this Aug. 16, 2011 photo.

The Treasury Department on Thursday said the government saw a surplus of $59.12 billion in April, with $318.81 billion in taxes and other revenue offsetting $259.69 billion in federal spending. The one-month revenue figure was the highest since April 2008. April revenues tend to be strong as many people wait until the deadline to file their tax return.

The surplus was perhaps a bit larger than normal because of the way the calendar was set up. April 1 was on a Sunday, so payments scheduled for that day were pushed forward into March.

Even though the tax revenue was high, it still lagged far behind April 2008, which saw $403.75 billion in receipts…